By: Ross Hickenbottom, Transcript Correspondent
The Ohio Machine, Ohio’s only major league lacrosse (MLL) team has called OWU’s Selby Stadium home for the past four years. Starting this year, they are moving on to another venue.
On Oct. 27, the Ohio Machine announced their new host will be Panther Stadium, home of the Ohio Dominican University athletics teams.
Although the organization is moving on, Gregg Klein, Machine’s vice president of business operations, has nothing but great things to say about Selby Stadium and the OWU family.
“Let me start by saying how lucky we were to have such great partners in Ohio Wesleyan University the last four years,” Klein said. “From an expansion club in 2012, to hosting a MLL semi-final game at Selby Stadium, our team grew up at Selby.”
The move was part of a plan for the organization to grow, and according to Klein, Ohio Dominican is the perfect place to initiate the growth the Machine is looking for.
“As we grew over the years, our front office analyzed our season ticket member demographic and asked for feedback from our fan base,” Klein explained. “We discovered that finding a location central to the downtown Columbus area was an important next step in the team’s growth.”
Despite Klein’s helpful explanation, news of the move has not been widespread.
Junior Doug Sanders considers himself a “pretty informed” sports fan and said he had not heard about the move.
“I never even knew they were moving to Ohio Dominican,” Sanders said. “But I can see why the Machine would want to move closer to downtown Columbus. More people, more attendance, it seems smart.”
“I personally never went to a game and don’t know anyone who did, so honestly, I don’t think the OWU student body will miss the Machine too much,” said junior David Pugh.
In their new stadium, the Machine will add extra seats for the 2016 MLL season, planning to expand their seating capacity in Panther Stadium to over 3,000, which is 6,000 less than Selby Stadium.